Little Pieces
by DeusVenenare
Summary: Companion compilation of shorts for my other fic, All of the Pieces.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, loves! This is a companion piece to my fic **All of the Pieces**. If you haven't read that, you might be a wee bit lost. This act takes place between Episode Seven and Episode Eight! Enjoy...

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 **Little Pieces**

[ _Act One_ ]

Wherein Mukuro plays with her food.

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"Hey, Mukuro, If I ask you a terribly personal question will you kill me?" Lyra's voice came out in a low, smoky whisper.

I dipped my chin in consideration as I locked the door behind me. We had just finished preparing the mimics for their guerrilla music bomb on Yomi's territory, a process that I would never openly admit to finding obscenely hilarious. The human had been pleasant and respectful enough company thus far, and I hoped that whatever was about to sprout out of her mouth wouldn't ruin that.

I'd _almost_ be uncomfortable with ending her life now.

"Perhaps, but you already know my stance on fear, so out with it," I replied flatly. If the girl had any sense of self-preservation, she wouldn't ask about my scars.

"What does eating humans _do_ for you?"

A light puff of air escaped my nose at that one. Of all the things I'd expect a human to be brazen enough to ask, that hadn't been high on the list. My experience conversing with humans had been greatly limited, however. I hadn't done it in nearly 700 years, back when I used to cross over to Ningenkai to hand pick my dinner. Since the kekkai was erected, I had opted instead for one of my followers to bring me an unconscious one when the time came to feed. The last one I had actually heard speak couldn't stop sniveling about their gods coming to protect them.

It hadn't worked out in their favor.

"I am unsure of what you mean. It provides me sustenance, just as eating does for your kind," I informed, mildly curious where the woman was going with her odd question.

Lyra tilted her head as if she was searching for the proper words to continue. "I mean, like... what makes humans biologically important for consumption, more so than say, a cow or a fruit? You guys have food here that isn't made of people meat, but Yusuke told me that his ancestor died because he stopped eating humans, so we obviously have something essential in us that nothing else has."

She was an observant and curious thing. It struck me as odd that her voice carried no waiver of judgment as she spoke of her species being consumed. Surely this had to strike an emotional chord, humans were not the most rational of beings. I decided to push, to test the limits of this human's desire to understand. It seemed that we both now had an enigma to solve.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, spreading her fingers wide, my eyebrow raising in askance. She seemed uncertain but nodded for me to continue, her inquisitiveness outweighing fear. I produced a small knife from my hip pocket and cut a thin line at the tip of her little finger. She jumped slightly but did not pull away.

"Demon cells and human cells are very similar in their structures, our biological differences coming largely from the influence of our energy harmonics, both from our auras and from our environments," I explained, cutting a line across the top of the one forearm of mine that still bore flesh. I lifted my arm for her to see, and she watched carefully as the small wound had already begun to heal itself. Her eyes flit back and forth between her own blood and mine.

"We heal faster, as we understand our energy on a deeper level and meld it with our very DNA. Humans have to train and focus to find the same synergy, and that means that the average human has not imbued their cells with their own spiritual power," I said as I took the blade once more and placed a second cut on my arm, as the first one had nearly faded.

The human blinked at me curiously as I took her hand and held her bleeding finger over my arm. Small beads of scarlet dripped down over my fresh wound and it traveled with unnatural fervor into the cut, my body drinking in the nourishment. The thin line of red began to stitch over with fresh skin much faster than the first had.

"So you humans are full of regenerative cells that closely match our own, but your cells are raw, without any protective energy, and easy to absorb," I said with a small smirk as I watched the healing process carefully. "Your biology has already begun to align with your energy, it seems. That should have been nearly instantaneous."

She frowned, holding her bloodied finger up to her face, going nearly cross-eyed as she glowered at it with intense effort. "Now I just need to figure out how to heal like you."

I paused and pinned her with a hard stare, quickly snatching her finger and bringing up to my lips. I licked away the crimson from her dusky skin, her eyes shooting wide with a mix of shock and embarrassment. "Indeed," I hummed, "you keep dangerous company now."

"Uh... y-yeah. I guess I do," she stammered, entirely unsure of how to read my actions. I had nearly forgotten how much fun it was to baffle humans.

Releasing her hand and suppressing a laugh, I turned to walk down the main hall. "Now I have a question for you, Ms. Beaumont."

Her feet hurried to follow after me and she fell in step at my side. "Sure, shoot."

"Why are you not bothered by the idea of demons eating your kind?" I inquired.

Her steps slowed for a moment, her eyes darkening by a mere hint. "Oh, I'm bothered, but it would be like getting mad at a lion for eating a gazelle. Nature doesn't give two shits about human morals," she shrugged. "Besides, if Enma hadn't been screwing with us for so long, we would have evolved to protect ourselves better. Psychics wouldn't be so rare... and maybe you'd have a little more competition."

Her smirk wasn't vindictive, it was more of a friendly provocation. A spark that reminded me of Yusuke's tenacity. I found myself chuckling, low and measured, but genuine nonetheless. "One day, I look forward to facing that competition. I expect it to come from you."

"I don't know about that..."

"You have until the next Makai Tournament, or I will eat you alive," I affirmed before slipping into my personal quarters, leaving the human slack-jawed by herself in the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

This act takes place within Episode Eight of **All of the Pieces**. Thank you to my beautiful readers!

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 **Little Pieces**

[ _Act Two_ ]

Wherein Kurama has a heart to heart with Yusuke.

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I diligently guided Yusuke through the thick of poisonous plants reaching up hungrily from the Makai soil. The Mazoku was marching blindly, his frustration outweighing thoughts of self-preservation as he distanced himself from our makeshift camp by the river. Something was eating at him, I had noticed, and had been from the moment that we had entered the demon realm.

"You didn't have to come babysit me. I'm just looking for firewood," Yusuke mumbled quietly.

My eyebrows peaked, my face set in a cool, disbelieving smile. "You're a terrible liar."

"And you're a really good one. Do you offer lessons?" Yusuke bit, crossing his arms as he leaned back on a tree to challenge me with a smirk of his own.

"Gladly. Although, knowing what you wish to lie about would be helpful in planning an angle of attack," I replied smoothly. He had still yet to learn that being a smartass was not a viable escape from my grasp. I was much better at it than he, when necessary.

Yusuke sighed, knowing he wasn't getting out of this. He dropped his arms limply and gestured to the world around him. "I just feel so... _good_ ," he admitted, looking guilty.

I chuckled at the ridiculous expression of defeat on his face. "You're upset because you feel good?"

"Stupid, huh?"

"Absolutely," I offered without hesitation.

Yusuke grunted and pushed off of the tree, heat rising in his brown eyes as his resentment continued to build. "Keiko has freckles on her nose now," he confided, his hands clenching.

I tilted my head in consideration for a moment before a ghost of realization shadowed my eyes. He had finally connected the puzzle together...

"Last summer she got sunburned really bad when we went to the festival in Sendai," Yusuke continued, "and ever since, she's had freckles on her nose."

"And you don't," I gave the conclusion that Yusuke refused to speak.

The former detective turned to punch the trunk of the tree, a halfhearted gesture that barely cracked the bark. "When she stays up all night studying, she gets dark circles under her eyes." His voice was quiet, broken.

"And you can go for days without rest."

Yusuke flinched at my words as if I had lashed out to strike him, his breaths coming in choppy bursts. The longer I calmly stared at him, the more agitated he became. He was exposed, with no way of fighting back. Knowing Yusuke, it was a foreign, unwelcome sensation that he did not know how to process.

"Keiko is human," I said simply, "and you are not. You haven't been for six years."

It wasn't a revelation that I had offered, it was old news, but the words still appeared to sting like a fresh paper cut. He punched the tree again, more severely this time, splitting the bark and leaving a splintered indentation of his hand in the hard wood. Bruises formed beneath the skin on his knuckles, but he numbly ignored them.

The time had come for him to face the truth.

"Yusuke..." I began carefully, but without any intention of mincing words, "she will age and die before you ever crack a wrinkle."

"SHUT UP!" Yusuke snapped, striking the tree once more, splintering the hapless plant into massive chunks that fell uselessly to the ground. "I know! I fucking know!"

I grabbed Yusuke's shoulder, forcing him to turn and meet my resolute stare. I had known that this weight would eventually settle on the boy's heart, but it was a truth that he had to discover within himself before my advice would have ever been welcomed. Romances between humans and demons were complicated beasts that largely ended in heartbreak, and this situation had been made worse by them developing feelings for one another before Yusuke's humanity had been consumed by the atavism.

Keiko still looked at Yusuke like he was human, even though the blood of ancient battle gods ran through him.

"She wants to have kids when she graduates. She wants to be a teacher and live a quiet, normal life... but there isn't anything quiet and normal about me."

I loosened my grip at Yusuke subdued words but still kept my gaze stern. "No, there isn't, but if you continue to carry your nature on your shoulders like a burden instead of a gift, you will waste away and bring suffering to those who care about you, just as Raizen did."

Like I do...

"So what should I do?" Yusuke asked, searching for answers in the centuries behind my eyes.

There it was; the imperative question.

I chuckled at him, recognizing all of the confusion of youth that had once, so long ago, forced many a stupid mistake in my own life. "Be honest with her. This is a decision that the two of you must make together. It is not your place to decide her fate without her, just as it is not her place to decide yours."

Yusuke's eyes narrowed, letting loose an irritated click of his tongue. "Goddamnit, why do you have to be so reasonable?"

"I pride myself on being unreasonably reasonable," I chimed with a roguish smirk.

"Have I called you a dick yet today?" Yusuke quipped, tension in his muscles slowly beginning to melt away.

"No, Yusuke," I taunted as I turned to walk back to camp, "but the sun hasn't quite finished setting."


End file.
